Ironic, you say? Not really. While stardom here in the States has proved elusive, the quick-witted British MC has sold more
than three million records abroad, lending credibility to his brazen claims to fame. Here, he abandons his goofy “street”
persona and serves up autobiographical sketches of the Good Life, complete with easy shags and mountains of coke. But even
the Good Life comes with its share of headaches – among them, camera phones. “How the hell am I supposed to do
a line in front of complete strangers when I know they’ve all got cameras,” Skinner laments on “When You
Wasn’t Famous,” his tongue-in-cheek tribute to A-List bed buddies. Clearly, the road to hip-hop celebrity is a
bumpy one.

Luckily, The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living finds Skinner’s sense of humor intact, and his colorful flow
has rarely sounded so smooth. If anything, his third Streets album represents a giant leap forward, as his blaring beats and
sing-song choruses have never seemed so memorable. Like the Beastie Boys, who evolved from brash pranksters into versatile
hit-makers, Skinner can no longer be dismissed as an amusing novelty act. Armed with powerful hooks that do justice to his
clever wordplay, he has arrived as a genuine hip-hop force – and perhaps had a bit too much fun in the process.